TRAIL - Four Interior Division teams came into Friday’s action undefeated and after it was all said and done, the Penticton Vees were the only team to have their perfect record intact.

Josh Laframbroise broke a 1-1 tie in the fleeting moments of the second period and Demico Hannoun added an insurance marker in the third, as the Vees upended the Trail Smoke Eaters 3-1 at Cominco Arena. The win grabs the Vees sole possession of top spot Interior Division heading into Saturday’s action.

Neither team found the scoresheet in franticly paced first period. The Vees best chance came when Mike Lee undressed a defender before sliding the puck across to Jack Ramsey who had an open net but the puck slid underneath his stick.

In the first period, twenty-minutes couldn’t produce a goal but it only took thirteen seconds in the second to break the ice. Trail’s Scott Davidson was first to a loose puck in the Vees zone and he spun and fired a wrist-shot over Hunter Miska’s arm from the right-circle.

The visitors quickly found their way back into the game just over three-minutes later. Josh Laframbroise went wide down the right-wing, took the puck around the net and then found Steen Cooper in the slot for the one-timer. Cooper buried his first of the season into a gaping net at 3:21.

The two teams looked like they would head into the intermission deadlocked at one’s but Laframbroise had some late heroics in mind. Mitch Newsome pushed the puck ahead to Laframbroise who then cut into right-circle, before forcing a low wrist-shot past Adam Todd’s block at 19:52.

That line of Cooper, Laframbroise and Newsome finished with two goals and five points in the win.

One of the main reasons why the Vees carried a 2-1 lead into the second intermission was the play of Miska. One of his best second period saves came while the Vees were on the power-play. Charlie Zuccarini broke in short-handed from centre ice but Miska stacked the pads and kept the puck off the goal-line after Zuccarini tried to go five-hole.

Demico Hannoun provided the Vees some much needed breathing room five-minutes into the third. Hannoun, who switched to numbers from forty-eight to twenty-one this week, redirected a goal-mouth feed from Mike Lee and past Todd at 4:56.

That’s all the Vees needed, as Miska stopped all eleven shots he faced in the third, including twenty-three of twenty-four shots in the final two periods.

Final Score: 3-1 Vees

Shots: 32-21 Trail

Power-Plays: Vees 0-5 Trail 0-2

Three Stars: 1) Josh Laframbroise 2) Scott Davidson 3) Hunter Miska

Josh Laframbroise finished with a goal and an assist and Mitch Newsome had two assists on the night. Demico Hannoun has two goals this year and has scored wearing two different jersey numbers; his first goal came when he was wearing number forty-eight.

The Vees are back on the road Saturday in Merritt, as they face Centennials in their home opener; face-off is 7:30pm.

OPINION At least part of me wasn’t sure I should write this, given what happened last time. It was August 15, 2003 and like many Thursdays before it, I was scratching around for a column idea. The summer newsroom